As "Mormon royalty" within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints, Martha Beck was raised in a home frequented by the Church's high
elders in an existence framed by the strictest code of conduct. As an
adult, she moved to the east coast, outside of her Mormon enclave for
the first time in her life. When her son was born with Down syndrome,
Martha and her husband left their graduate programs at Harvard to return
to Utah, where they knew the supportive Mormon community would embrace
them.
But when she was hired to teach at Brigham Young University, Martha was
troubled by the way the Church's elders silenced dissidents and masked
truths that contradicted its published beliefs. Most troubling of all,
she was forced to face her history of sexual abuse by one of the
Church's most prominent authorities. The New York Times bestseller
Leaving the Saints chronicles Martha's decision to sever her
relationship with the faith that had cradled her for so long and to
confront and forgive the person who betrayed her so deeply.
Leaving the Saints offers a rare glimpse inside one of the world's
most secretive religions while telling a profoundly moving story of
personal courage, survival, and the transformative power of
spirituality.